Tri-Cities Meetings: Unless noted otherwise, meetings are held in Room 117 in the SWL building at CBC. The program starts at 7:00 PM. At 6:30 PM, we have an informal plant identification and get together. Bring a mystery plant (non-ornamental) if you like and we will attempt to identify it for you.

Field Trips: Bring water, appropriate layers of clothing, hat, sunscreen, walking sticks, guidebooks, camera, and a snack/lunch for all day trips. If you opt to carpool, riders should contribute money for gas. Please notify the contact person of your intention to participate. These trips may fill up fast . Please pre- register. Some of our away trips have limited parking. Unless noted otherwise, Blue Mountain trips begin at Harper Joy parking lot on Whitman campus in Walla Walla for carpooling. Arrangements may also be made to meet you on the way.

This Bureau of Reclamation land is home to one of Washington's rare plants, the Gray Cryptantha. This special place is called “Basalt Gardens” because of its outstanding diversity and its beautiful basalt sculpture walls. Everybody shows up here: Death Camas lilies, purple thread leaf Phacelia and so much more! After lunch, we’ll proceed up the Vantage Hwy for a look at a different environment with new blooms.

Basalt Gardens, once a dumping ground for old appliances, is a designated shelter to one of Washington’s rare plants. It is home to many flowering plants and shrubs as well. Antelope brush, with its sweet-smelling yellow blooms, frames the rainbow of colors from all the flowering species found there. This is an exceptional wildflower area. After lunch, we will proceed past Gingko State Park, up the old Vantage highway to DNR land where we will find even more species, including our hedgehog cactus and the thyme leaf buckwheat with its tiny clusters of flowers. This is one trip you don’t want to miss.